Children's Home run by Broadlands Hall Limited in Suffolk

Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 1 SC060936 Registered provider: Broadlands Hall Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children‘s home provides care, accommodation and education for up to 11 children who have moderate to severe learning difficulties and/or autistic spectrum disorders. There is a large education provision, last inspected by Ofsted in May 2017, in the grounds of the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted for this home since 8 February 2018.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children‘s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/05/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 08/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/05/2016 Full Good 30/11/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children‘s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children‘s home‘s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‘s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that repairs are carried out within reasonable timescales and that the decor is maintained to provide a well-kept and homely environment. 01/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

staff assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child‘s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 12/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‘s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. 31/08/2018 Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home‘s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(d)(e)) The registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 12/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (―the Level 3 Diploma‖); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children‘s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children‘s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the 12/07/2018 Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 5 registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children,

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Requirement Due date

allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(b)(3)(d)) The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to agency staff. 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child‘s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration; and

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(ii)(iv)(v)) 01/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children‘s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (1)(2)(a)) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (4)(a)) 31/08/2018

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Recommendations

Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 6  Records of restraint must be kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly when any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure that it meets the needs of each child. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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Recommendations

This is with particular regard to the use of prone or supine physical interventions.

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Recommendations

 As set out in regulations 31–33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

In particular, provide clarity for managers about expectations regarding overseas checks when recruiting staff who have worked overseas.

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improvement to be good

The children spoke positively about the staff. The core staff have a good understanding of the children. A professional said, ‗The staff know him well and can talk about his behaviour and triggers, and recognise when he is doing well.‘

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improvement to be good

The children benefit from large rooms, which they said that they liked. However, damage to the rooms and the building is not repaired within an acceptable timeframe. This does not ensure a well-kept and homely environment.

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improvement to be good

The staff ensure that children have access to support for their mental health. This involves commissioning external professionals to work with the children. A professional said, ‗My experience so far in terms of the residential environment is that all of the staff I have spoken to have been very receptive and vey engaged with what has been suggested and discussed with them.‘

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improvement to be good

Some of the children have made progress with managing their emotions. One child was clear about his progress. He said, ‗No restraints. There were loads of restraints when I first came here. No restraints now.‘ He also said, ‗The staff talk to me when I am angry. It helps me calm down.‘ A social worker for another child said, ‗The main progress that he has made is his emotional self-regulation. This is massive.‘

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improvement to be good

The children attend school. The children, parents and professionals are positive about the progress the children make in school. One child said that he is now able to read and write. Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 7 The children have access to a broad range of activities and they are encouraged to participate in local activities. For example, one child has joined a local football team and another child has been on his first ever trip abroad.

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improvement to be good

The staff ensure that contact with families takes place. Professionals spoke positively about the home‘s engagement with families. For some children, these positive relations, combined with a reduction in aggressive behaviour, have resulted in increased contact.

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improvement to be good

The children have opportunities to develop their independence. They are able to use the large flats at the home for independence work.

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improvement to be good

The children feel safe at the home. They get on well with the staff. Warm interactions were seen throughout the inspection.

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improvement to be good

The manager has changed the approach to risk assessments. However, this has not resulted in a sufficient improvement to the risk assessment process. Risk assessments are not all updated when an incident occurs, nor do they sufficiently consider predictable risks.

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improvement to be good

The quality of physical intervention records is poor. The records do not consistently include the duration of incidents. They lack clarity regarding antecedents, and the language used to describe behaviour is general and imprecise.

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improvement to be good

When higher-risk prone holds are used there is no routine additional scrutiny. These holds are not monitored or reported on separately. As a result, managers are unaware of how many of these holds have taken place. Although none of these holds is illegal, they can pose a risk to children. The lack of any additional monitoring means that managers do not scrutinise these holds sufficiently.

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improvement to be good

Recruitment processes are not good enough. Records relating to agency staff do not include assurance that all required recruitment information has been sought. In addition, the home‘s recruitment policy lacks clarity regarding the requirements of overseas checks.

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improvement to be good

The staff are aware of the process for sharing safeguarding concerns. They understand the importance of whistle blowing and are aware of the routes to do this.

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improvement to be good

No children have gone missing from the home since the last inspection. The high staff- to-child ratios significantly lessen the potential for this to occur.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager has been registered since February 2018. Staff and Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 8 professionals speak highly of her. The staff report improvements to morale and team working. The manager has a suitable qualification and is seeking to further her professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The staffing arrangements are insufficient.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

 The home is using a large number of agency staff. Although some of these staff are well established and well known to the children, many are not. There have been occasions when more than 50% of staff on shift have been from an agency. In addition, there have been shifts when only three out of nine staff were both permanent and out of their probationary period.  There are staff who have been working at the home for over two years who have not achieved a relevant level 3 qualification as required by regulation.  The record of who has worked at the home is not sufficiently clear. Agency staff are routinely recorded by their first name only or just noted as agency.  The staff have access to a range of training courses. However, agency staff (who are heavily relied on) do not have access to much of this training. This was an issue that was identified at the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The staff, including the regularly used agency staff, receive supervision. The staff said that supervision is beneficial and allows them to reflect on their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager has introduced a new probationary-progress monitoring document. This enables a clear record of the support provided to and development of new members of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager had not submitted either internal management reviews of the quality of care or the updated statement of purpose to Ofsted. This affects Ofsted‘s ability to regulate effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The quality of external monitoring reports is variable. The reports offer challenge, and the visits are of a suitable duration and include the children. However, there are whole sections of monthly reports that are repeated verbatim over a six-month period. In addition, the reports have only once included family feedback since the last inspection, seven months ago.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Relationships between the staff and the children are good. The staff know the children, and they are increasing their understanding of autistic spectrum disorders and the effect that the disorders have on the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager has responded to an issue of discriminatory behaviour by commissioning additional diversity training for staff. Staff who were spoken to were clear about the importance of working in an ethical and inclusive way. The manager regularly consults with the children. There are also regular resident meeting. The manager‘s consultation books contribute to good practice in this area. Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 9

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children‘s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‗Social care common inspection framework‘, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children‘s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘. Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Broadlands Hall Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Greenwood House, Greenwood Court, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk IP32 7GY

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Inspector

Ashley Hinson: social care inspector Inspection report children‘s home: SC060936 11 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children‘s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children‘s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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